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Sunday, 14 October 2012

Most Disappointing Hair Straighteners Ever: Vidal Sassoon Hydra-Gloss

Last week I finally decided to replace my 18 month old Babyliss ceramic hair straighteners, which would only heat up and remain switched on if the cable was in just the right position (very frustrating!)

After work one evening, I trundled down to Worthing's Boots store and had 15 minutes only in which to select a pair and get out the shop (6pm close). After browsing for a while - and staring longingly at the £80-£120 pairs totally outside my budget - I decided to buy Vidal Sassoon's Hydra-Gloss straighteners, priced at £24.99.

Why I decided to buy these straighteners

Price was obviously a factor. These were one of the cheaper straighteners on the shelf (I'm pretty skint at the moment!)

I liked the purple colour integrated into the design.

Vidal Sassoon is an established brand; one I have not had much experience with. The less costly options were largely Babyliss, but I've owned many Babyliss appliances in the past and wanted to try a different brand.

The box proudly claimed that the straighteners' ion technology would do wonders for my hair condition.

I have never owned a pair of straighteners with a digital display before, and I was somewhat taken by this novelty.

I've have accidentally left hair straighteners on all day in the past (my mum was forever scared I'd burn the house down when I lived at home). These straighteners feature 30 minute auto switch.

That all sounds pretty good, right?
Why exactly, did I decide to return my Hydra-Gloss for a refund after the very first use then?

Why I returned my Vidal Sassoon's Hydra-Gloss straightener

Vidal Sassoon's Hydra-Gloss straightener is very poorly manufactured. Cheap, creaky plastic made the device feel like a child's toy.

Thesestraighteners pull on hair terribly. The box claims these straighteners gently glide through the hair but this is not so. You can actually feel the damage being done with every awkward stroke! My hair didn't benefit from the supposed 'ion technology' either.

Compared to the overall size of the appliance, the plates are quite small. This meant repeated strokes were necessary on each section of hair (worrying, considering the damage mentioned in the last bullet point!)

Hydra-Gloss: Small plates

They are almost impossible to use without inadvertently pushing the various buttons.

The auto-switch off sees the display stay on, but illuminated in red with the word 'OFF' emblazoned. I cannot abide TVs or anything else being left in stand-by mode (energy waste, even if it is a single LED!) and so this disappointed me greatly.

Hydra-Gloss auto switch off mode

The box also claims these straighteners can reach temperatures up to 230 degrees, but I believe this is not the case. Even when they had been left to heat for ten minutes, they still didn't feel hot enough (this is a common complaint regarding these straighteners, so I don't believe mine were faulty in any way).

After I returned these straighteners, I wanted to know what other consumers thought of them, and so I searched for reviews around the WWW. The following just goes to show that I should always conduct research before parting with my cash! (Click reviews below to enlarge).

Review from argos.co.uk

Review from boots.com

In my next post, I will tell you about the AMAZING budget straighteners I replaced these awful ones with.